Tuesday, 3 December, 2002

Laura was feverishly working away in the lab trying to finish all of her cases before she was to depart for Germany the next day. She was so intently focused on her work that she didn't pay any attention to her colleagues who were speaking in a somber tone. Finally, one of them managed to break her concentration.

"What about you, Hobs?

"What about me? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"Do you want to contribute to the flowers?"

"For?"

Her colleagues looked at her blankly. Was she not in the same room as them? "Inspector Lewis. His wife's funeral. He's always been a good bloke, so kind to the families of our 'customers,' you know. So we thought the pathology department should send something to him."

Now it was Hobson's turn to stare. She was completely speechless from shock. When she did manage to speak, she mumbled, "what happened?"

"Car accident. Hit and run."

"How did I not hear about this? Who was the attending?"

"Dunno; not one of ours. It was in London. DI Kerrison's taken over his cases." She sat there taking it in. The news hit her harder than she ever would have imagined.

"So… do you want to throw in a couple of quid with us?"

"Yeah, sure." She said absent-mindedly as she went for her purse.

Dr Hobson drove home that night lost in thought. As a pathologist, she was used to having the answers and now she found herself obsessing over the unknown details of Valerie Lewis' death. All she knew was that it was a hit-and-run. Was it a fatal blow or internal injuries from which Val could not recover? Was her husband able to make it her side at the end or was death instant? She heard the voice of the late Inspector Morse in her head correcting his sergeant: coffee was instant, but death was instantaneous. She herself had chimed in- death would have been instant, sergeant- echoing Lewis' word choice partly in solidarity with Lewis, but mostly to annoy Morse. Recalling her own words from many years ago, Hobson somehow knew that Valerie Lewis didn't linger. Bloody hell, that was the first time I ever met Lewis, wasn't it? Her car swerved a little as she recalled that day at Blenheim, but she quickly righted the car at the irrepressible thought of Val's tragic fate.

Franco was waiting for her with a glass of wine when she came home, an hour late. "Sorry, I had to finish everything at work so that we can leave, and I kept getting… distracted." She spoke as though Franco were already miles away. He could tell that she was upset; he held her close and stroked her hair.

"What happened, Liebchen?"

She let out a sigh before explaining what she could. "One of my colleagues lost his wife yesterday- in a car accident. She was so young, they have two kids, so sudden…"

"Denn die Todten reiten schnell." Said Franco, for the dead ride fast*.

"What? Spare me your references." She hadn't planned to say the next part, but the words came tumbling out. "I want to go to the funeral. Would you hate me if I postponed coming to Germany by a few days?"

"But you'll miss Nikolaus Tag." Franco Wagenbauer was a ruthless businessman, but he became quite sentimental when it came to his nieces and nephews. The kinder didn't know their uncle was coming home and wouldn't expect it to be him dressed as old Saint Nick on the sixth- his feast day.

Laura felt her resolve kick in. "It's important."

"If it's important to you, it's important to me. We'll stay in Oxford and I'll go to the funeral with you."

Laura was surprised by two things: first, that Franco would offer to stay with her; second, that she felt an unexpected wave of anxiety when he said he would accompany her to the funeral. She didn't want him there, didn't want to introduce her boyfriend to Robbie Lewis, God only knows why.

"No no, you've been looking forward to seeing your family for too long. This is more of a work function, and bound to be depressing as hell at that. I'd best just go to the funeral with my colleagues. I'll join you straightaway after."

Franco nodded in assent. "You'll miss Nikolaus Tag, but we'll still be able to go to the Weinachtsmarkt when you arrive."

And so it was that Franco left for Germany and Laura attended Val Lewis' funeral alone. Strange, who had lost his own wife some years earlier, sighted Hobson amongst the throngs of mourners and waved her over to him. Ordinarily, the pathologist and chief superintendent were not chums but they sat together, both relieved to see a familiar face. Strange recalled that Lewis always had an anecdote about his many relations, and it seemed like they were all there along with Val's Greek side of the family. Hobson noted that they were all quite demonstrative in their mourning while Val's husband, however, was very subdued. He looked lost. Hobson approached Lewis after the service. "Thank you for coming," he said as she took his hand.

"Of course. If there's anything I can do, just give us a ring, all right?"

"Thank you for coming" was his refrain, like some stoic parrot only capable of saying one thing. Hobson doubted that Lewis even knew who she was. She doubted he even knew who he was in that moment.

After such somber rites, she was grateful to have a change of scenery. She took the train to London and made her flight to Bremen via Frankfurt. She was excited about this new chapter in her life- meeting Franco's family- though her excitement was tempered by the thought that Robbie Lewis was also heading in a new direction. His journey, however, would be along a very dark path. If only Hobson could have been his light a little sooner…

* Later repeated by Laura in Falling Darkness.